


My Feet Don't Glide

by orphan_account



Series: Spring break prompts [7]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Awkward Dancing, M/M, flufffffffff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-23
Updated: 2013-03-23
Packaged: 2017-12-06 05:54:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’re teenage boys, they do not care about waltz, but it’s not their choice. Or the one where Niall and Harry are forced to take dance lessons and Niall keeps stepping on Harry’s feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Feet Don't Glide

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt I received on tumblr. I unfortunately do not own any member of one direction. Title from Fun. Enjoy! xx

When they first meet, Niall is 14 and Harry is 13. Niall is loud and bubbly and _everywhere_ while Harry is quiet and shy and kind of wants the floor of the studio to swallow him. Niall is flat blond hair and bright blue eyes and award winning smiles while Harry is curly brown hair and dull green eyes and this kind of constant attractive pout on his face. Not a thing in common.   
  
Except maybe for the fact that none of them actually wants to be here, in the dance studio.   
  
And also maybe the fact that they’re the only boys standing in the room.

  
“Welcome to Waltz for beginners,” a petite woman says as she enters the studio. Niall notices the way she moves gracefully around the room, making a point of looking at each and every one of the young faces standing awkwardly in line in front of her. “My name is Lisa but you can all call me Mrs. Robinson and I’ll be your teacher for the next four weeks,” her tone is monotone and disinterested and she looks just as thrilled as the two boys to be here. Which is absolutely not.   
  
“To make you feel at ease, I’ll let you choose your partners, it doesn’t matter much in the beginners class anyway.”   
  
And Harry can hear girls giggling and squealing and he has the urge to roll his eyes at the annoying sound. He restrains himself though because his mom told him enough time that it was not an acceptable gesture in society. Mrs. Robinson though does it with an exasperated sigh and Harry smirks. He likes that girl.   
  
He’s pulled out of his thoughts when there’s another boy standing in front of him, a raised eyebrow looking kind of expectant and he might have zoned out so much he totally ignored the cute boy.   
  
“I’m sorry?” he says and the blond boy blinks a couple times and then smiles.   
  
“I said I think we’re gonna be stuck together,” he repeats, nudging Harry to look around the room and yeah, all the girls paired up together and they’re the only two left. “Do you mind?” and Harry shrugs.   
  
“No,” and that answer brings out a crooked smile out of the other boy. Harry does something unusual then.   
  
He smiles back.   
  
{}  
  
“So, what’s your story?” Niall asks in Harry’s ear, just a little above the obnoxious music filling the room. He’s got a firm hand on Harry’s shoulder being the shorter one while Harry’s hand hangs loosely on his hip.

Harry bites his lip and sigh, not sure if he wants to admit the reason he’s here to this stranger who’s been stepping on his feet for the last thirty minutes.   
  
“What’s yours?” he decides to retort and Niall snorts.   
  
“Stuck up parents. Apparently I need to learn this shit for some gala we’re attending next month or whatever,” he says and then look at him again and yeah, Harry is supposed to give him his reason now, that’s how it works.   
  
“My dad thinks it’ll be good to get… girls,” he explains and with Niall’s puzzled expression, he didn’t get the way he said that last word with regret and bitterness and he wants to take his hands off from Niall and run away far enough so he never have to face the boy ever again but the teacher is giving him that kind of look, her eyes trailing from his hands to his face and Harry swallows hard before standing straighter and holding Niall a little tighter. The boy doesn’t seem to mind though. Not yet. “The thing is, I don’t like girls.”  
  
It’s so quiet, he almost hopes that Niall doesn’t hear it over the music.   
  
He does of course and Harry can’t look at him so he keeps his eyes on their feet where he can see Niall’s feet stepping on his own until he feels his hand being squeezed in Niall’s one. He looks up, surprised to find Niall shooting him a sympathetic smile and then he steps on Harry’s feet once more and they both can’t keep their giggles in.   
  
{}   
  
“The poor boy, you kept stepping on his toes Niall,” his mom tells him once they’re in their fancy car and he rolls his eyes.   
  
“I’m just hopeless at that thing,” he mutters and then it’s Niall’s mother’s turn to roll her eyes at her son.   
  
“You only keep making mistakes because you set your mind to make mistakes,” she replies and Niall make that unbelievable sound because that didn’t even make any sense. “You seemed quite friendly with the other boy though, weren’t you?” she teases and Niall can actually feels his cheeks heating up.   
  
“Moooom,” he moans and his mom can only sniggers when she notices the blush on Niall’s face.   
  
{}  
  
“Hey baby, how was it?” His mom asks him when he get in their old beat-up car in her sickening sweet voice, pressing a kiss to the mess of hair on his son’s head.   
  
Harry only shrugs out of her embrace and mutters an “alright,” before they fall in a comfortable silence.   
  
That’s Harry’s favorite part of the day, when he gets to have some alone time with his mom. And then his dad comes home and he locks himself in his room.   
  
“Did you meet a girl, or something?” and that makes Harry snorts.   
  
“I’ve been paired with a bloke,” and as planned, it shuts his mom a little until she’s smirking and stealing glance at his son.   
  
“Is it a cute boy at least?” the question makes Harry blush when he nods because there’s really no point at hiding anything from his mom anymore.   
  
“Don’t tell dad,” he adds quickly and his mom grabs his hand, running her thumb on the smooth skin.  
  
Harry never see her sad smile.  
  
“Of course I won’t baby.”  
  
{}  
  
Another thing the two boys have in common is that none of them would actually admit they’ve been looking forward to the following  week’s lesson. A smile grows on Niall’s face though when he notices Harry all alone surrounded by all those girls and he looks so uncomfortable Niall could just burst out of laughter right here, right now. But then, Harry is aware of his presence and the younger boy’s face lights up in the most subtle way as possible but Niall notices it and he feels something stirs in his stomach, something like  excitement and emotions but he contains himself enough that he doesn’t look like a total girl in front of Harry.    
  
“Hey,” Niall says in greeting. “You’re here. I thought you wouldn’t come.”  
  
Harry’s face drops when he mumbles “It’s not like I have a choice,” and all Niall wants to do is turn that frown on the pretty boy’s face upside down and swipe the clouds from above his head. And maybe ignore that twinge of pain his words bring to Niall’s chest because, well, yeah, Niall _knows_ the other boy probably isn’t interested, they barely even know each other but somehow, it still hurts like a bitch.   
  
But he can’t do any of those things because Mrs. Robinson is putting on her music and clapping her hands to bring attention on her.   
  
“Class, last week you learned how to move around the room with your partner. This week, you’ll learn how to swirl,” she says, and while the girls are squealing in excitement and already arguing on which one would be the one swirling, the woman looks like she’d much rather be anywhere else but here. “So grab your partners, the shorter one will swirl.”  
  
Harry smirks at Niall who’s face is totally red by now.   
  
“C’mon ballerina,” he teases and grabs his wrist to tug him to their corner and all Niall can reply is a weak, half-hearted “fuck off,” the curly boy sticking out his tongue to the blond.   
  
{}  
  
[When his mom asks him how it went, Niall simply shrugs and say it was fine. He certainly doesn’t mention the fact that his hands got moist and that his heart skipped a beat or two at the feeling of Harry’s firm grip of his waist when he twirled a little too much and lost his balance.   
  
And his mom hides her grin and pretends that she isn’t aware of it. ]  
  
{}  
  
When they kiss the following week, it’s an accident.    
  
Their teacher announces that next week is their last waltz class and Harry is pretty sure that’s the most excited he ever saw her. She then says all they have left to do is to learn the dance and that sounds simple enough.   
  
Except it’s not.   
  
Niall finds himself continuously stepping on Harry’s feet and if that make Harry giggles a little, it also makes their teacher scowl and put her in a worst mood than she usually is. And then, Niall’s head is spinning from all the twirling and going around and it’s too much and he’s not nearly as good as he should be at that point and he is about 99.99 % sure he’ll make a fool of himself at that gala.   
  
He hears a sharp “Niall!” above what sounds like that Chopin song his mom likes so much and that’s when he realises he is totally out of rhythm and he is not sure if it’s his turn to step forward or Harry’s. He takes the guess it’s his and just as he does so, Harry does the same and they collide, knees knocking, heads bumping and well, lips touching.   
  
And it’s all it is really, lips pressed against lips in the most impromptu way as they pull away with wide eyes and equally flushed cheeks. Niall can hear Mrs. Robinson sigh behind his head while Harry can see her roll her eyes. A second after, she’s yelling at that brunette on their far left and the pair of boys is already forgotten by the teacher, along with the embarrassing incident.

What happens next is a blur. Words and excuses fall quickly from Harry’s mouth, his green eyes never meeting his blues as he shakes his head, curls bouncing in front of his eyes, which make it impossible now for Niall to hold his gaze.   
  
And then he’s gone. Leaving Niall dumbfounded and alone in the dance studio. And maybe a little brokenhearted too.   
  
So he calls his mom and ask her to come and pick him up and when she points out that there’s still 15 minutes left, he tells her the teacher let them out early.   
  
And he knows his mother caught the way his voice broke a little with his lie, he’s just grateful she didn’t push any further.   
  
{}  
  
On the day of his fourth and final waltz class, Niall begs him mom to stay home, because it’s hopeless anyway, he just can’t dance.   
  
His mom refuses of course.   
  
So when Niall enters the dance studio and sees Harry sitting on the bench next to numerous girls, his teeth sinking down in worry in his bottom lip and his eyes fixed on the front door, he’s surprised and that’s an understatement.   
  
Harry seems surprised too, his eyes growing wide before dropping down low on the floor, and Niall shakes his head before walking straight to the boy, his mind set to fix things up with Harry.   
  
“Hey Harry,” he greets him as he takes a seat next to the younger boy on the bench.   
  
“You came,” he whispers like he still can’t believe it and it makes Niall smile the slightest.   
  
“So did you,” he says with a smirk, nudging his shoulder into Harry’s and when he finds the faintest smile on the boy’s lips, it already feels like a victory.   
  
But as soon as it came, the smile is gone and Harry is clearing his throat and the small lived victory leaves a bitter taste in Niall’s mouth.   
  
“So about what happened last week,” Harry begins, scratching his head awkwardly, “I’m sorry, it was totally an accident.”  
  
The thing is, he says those words exactly when Niall opens his mouth to say “It’s alright, I even kind of liked it,” and while Harry’s heart is beating furiously fast in his chest with an eruption of butterflies in his stomach, Niall can hear his own hit the floor and feel it shatter in a million pieces.   
  
And he wants to to stand up and run far away until he’s so out of breath and can’t remember what just happened, or go and call his mom and forget everything about waltz and a curly, green-eyed boy, or just laugh it off as a bad pun and tell Harry to forget all about it, but he can’t. He can’t do anything except sit there blankly, wondering if this is the real life or just some kind of terrible nightmare.   
  
Before he can figure it out though, Harry snaps out of it, finally processing all that just happened.   
  
“Niall- what?” he asks like he can’t really believe it and it just confirms Niall that _yeah_ , this is real life. Cruel, cold, mocking, real life.   
  
And he has to get away from here because sitting there next to the other boy, wearing his heart on his sleeve, well, it’s unbearable. He mutters a quick “forget it,” and stands up, ready to walk away, but he is stopped by a firm hand on his arm, a grip that he knows all too well.   
  
He can’t even question Harry, he doesn’t have time because the younger boy leans in without hesitation to press his mouth against Niall’s. It’s not a hot kiss, there’s no tongue involved or whatever. But it’s kiss nonetheless, not just a press of lips. It’s a request, a promise and it’s enough.   
  
They pull away and Niall kind of wants to lean in once more but there’s _girls_ and Mrs. Robinson has put on her music (and it is _definitely_ Chopin) so Harry smiles sheepishly at the older boy.   
  
“Will you offer me this dance?” he says as he extends his hand and Niall rolls his eyes but takes it anyway.   
  
“You’re making me sound like a girl,” he complains and Harry chuckles.  
  
“But you’d make such a pretty girl,” Harry teases and Niall smirks when he steps on the boy’s foot on purpose, making sure to shift all his weight on this gesture and it makes Harry chuckles some more. “You know, I really feel sorry for the feet of that person you’ll be dancing with at your parent’s event.”  
  
And Niall doesn’t wash that smile off his face when he spins under Harry’s arms and then leans in close to whisper in the boy’s ear. Harry’s hand is on his hip and is bringing Niall even closer and Niall just holds on to his shoulder.   
  
“Don’t you think you’ll be getting away with it, Styles. You’re most definitely coming with me. As my date.”   
  
{}

  
[Niall totally steps on Harry’s feet through the whole thing, but if anyone notices, they don’t mention it.]  
  
fin


End file.
